


The Aftermath

by TheOnlyWife



Category: Danny Phantom
Genre: Identity Reveal, One Shot
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-09-30
Updated: 2020-09-30
Packaged: 2021-03-07 23:21:01
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,188
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/26725840
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/TheOnlyWife/pseuds/TheOnlyWife
Summary: It started with a few glances her way. Pauses in conversation just to look at her. Quieter words when she passed by. A lack of trust that she used to have.And Danny Fenton was not innocent either.
Relationships: Danny Fenton & Valerie Gray
Comments: 12
Kudos: 140





	The Aftermath

Valerie was popular once. Not anymore, but the things she learned when she was stuck with her. The number one rule Paulina taught her was to always keep your ear to the ground. 

It started with a few glances her way. Pauses in conversation just to look at her. Quieter words when she passed by. And a lack of trust that she used to have.

She knew something was going on because it was the same three people who did all of those things. Tucker, the techno geek with a bad luck streak. Sam, the ultra-recyclo vegetarian who didn’t take any nonsense. And Danny, the cute space nerd she once dated.

The times when Tucker used fawn over her like any other pretty, popular girl were over. He now looks at her like she’s an enemy. Sam, who used to scoff at her more feminine choices, now lingers silently whenever she gets angry. Valerie also notices that both of those happen whenever she gets close to Danny.

Danny was not innocent either. He was always stuck to those two like glue, but it seemed like they were inseparable now more than ever.

And, maybe it was just coincidence, but he seemed afraid of her. Not like how the football players were. They were scared because she had a black belt and could chuck them across the room if they even looked at her wrong.

Danny, no, he looked at her like she had a loaded gun in his face, asking if he wanted to know what it felt like to die. And that look was exactly how everything came tumbling down.

Because it was the same look Phantom gave her.

And that was only the beginning, looking back on it. Phantom said odd things sometimes. When he thought she wasn’t paying attention, he would talk to himself about his friends. He never said their names, but they sounded awfully familiar. She couldn’t place it until he made a joke about Johnny 13 having an influence on one of his friends.

She knew without a doubt he was talking about Tucker Foley. And she knew it even more when he mentioned schoolwork under his breath. He was always complaining about not getting enough sleep. She always thought it was weird because the Fenton’s told the class that ghosts didn’t need sleep.

But then she remembers Danny rolling his eyes during their presentation. She had thought it was embarrassment. A stupid mistake on her part.

And then one night she finds Phantom sitting on top of FentonWorks. Just...sitting. Not floating, not hovering. Just sitting down, back against the metal beams, legs crossed, staring up at the night sky.

One look at her scanner told her that he was the only ghost around for miles. She’d only ever seen him in a combat scenario so seeing that was a strange mix of weird and chaotically peaceful. Like seeing the aftermath of a battlefield. He looked so calm.

And so very tired.

Maybe he wasn’t kidding about not getting enough sleep. The bags under his eyes looked just like the one’s every single student has. And that was another thing that led her to believe the truth.

That night was the night it all came crashing down. The pieces were all laid out for her - she just had to put them together. 

Phantom was afraid of her, which was understandable if you were a ghost, but so was Danny. Phantom talks about space a lot. The freckles on his cheeks light up like constellations whenever he does. But Danny’s tiny freckles do the same sometimes.

She was vigorously pacing around her bedroom floor before she even realized. 

_Maybe Wes was right._ She couldn’t stop herself from thinking as everything fell into place.

“No...” she whispered out loud, like she could deny it. That stupid loudmouth kid who yelled his conspiracy theories all day long instead of doing homework was _right_? That annoying brat who disrupted class every day? 

She could only imagine how annoying he was to Danny, considering he was Wes’s main target.

“Wait.” she stopped pacing suddenly. Why _does_ Wes go crazy when no one believes him? 

It’s Danny’s secret to keep. It’s none of his business whether or not Danny is Phantom. It boils Valerie’s blood when she remembers all the times Wes has tried to out him. All the times she’s seen Danny panic for just a second before trying to laugh it off.

She had her shoes on and was out of the apartment before she could realize. And she was running down the street before she even noticed that it was raining. She did what she always did when she worked out: focus on one thing and one thing alone. It used to be hunting down the ghost that ruined her life.

She wasn’t sure what it would be now. So she just focused on how much her feet hurt as they stomped the pavement. And then when that wasn’t enough she stopped, barely able to breathe, and let out a desperate shout, punching a nearby tree as hard as she could. 

Still having trouble breathing properly, but unable to tell if it was because of a panic attack or not, she punched it again. And again. And again. If she were in her right mind she would have felt the bruises starting to form on her knuckles. 

But she wasn’t in her right mind. At least, not for the solid minute she spent working out her anger on that poor tree. When her body decided that enough was enough, her legs gave out and she fell to the muddy ground.

She honestly couldn’t tell if she was crying or not. Sounds were her only cue and she could barely hear anything. The world was a deathly quiet. She hated it.

When she trudged home soaking wet she didn’t even bother to look at the time. She just washed off her wet, somewhat bleeding hands, and collapsed on her bed. She couldn’t help it if they were bruised in the morning.

All she could think about was Danny. And how much of an idiot she was for breaking up with him. She wanted to protect him from ghost hunting. Like his parents weren’t already ghost hunters. God, he _lived_ around ghost hunting equipment. 

And it made her heart jump when she thought about his own parents hunting him. They were even more avid haters of Phantom. If she had caught him before, she’d only want information out of him. Information about the Ghost Zone, mostly.

Jack Fenton made it clear he wanted to dissect him.

And Maddie? She was even more of a wild card. Whether she was more like Valerie or more like Jack was a mystery.

And Danny _lives_ with these people. He has dinner with them. He watches T.V with them. Jazz even drives him to school sometimes. Was she like them? Valerie hoped to god that she wasn’t.

Sam and Tucker knew for certain. It was the only explanation she could think of for their protective nature around Danny. And why they suddenly hated her. Which means the three of them know that she’s the Red Huntress.

How could she even face them tomorrow at school? She buried her face deeper into her pillow. She felt like such a coward for wanting to run away, but she couldn’t deny that it sounded like a good option.

Tired, however, she favored lying in bed and crying, remembering the times she had with Danny until she slept.

* * *

When Valerie woke up and tried to push herself up, her knuckles hurt like hell. She knew they were bruised before she even looked. 

She regretted the whatever dumb thought convince her to punch a solid object until she bled, but didn’t regret that she didn’t feel like running away again. Instead she felt a bit more confident.

Valerie was a Gray. And her family didn’t run away from their problems. Certainly not one’s that were their own. She got ready to go, dressing in her favorite yellow top and orange skirt to get to school early.

She hardly remembered school that day. Class passed by in an instant. She couldn’t remember if she skipped lunch or not. It didn’t matter. None of that day mattered until she finally caught Danny alone in the hallway after it was over.

“Hey Danny.” she said to catch his attention while running down the hall closer to him.

He turned around and gave a small wave as she stopped in front of him. She didn’t miss the slightly fearful glance behind her. As if she had brought trouble for him. She wouldn’t be doing that anymore.

“I...heard there was going to be a full moon tonight.” she said slowly, unable to think of a proper way to lead into ‘I found out your secret’.

Danny blinked once blankly like he didn’t expect her to say that. “Yeah, there is, actually. I was gonna go out to watch it tonight.”

Valerie is reminded of the time she saw him on top of FentonWorks just staring off into the stars. She was so stupid. Of course he would be there. It’s _his_ house.

“I….didn’t think you kept up with the moon cycles.” Danny continues, catching her eyes.

It was her turn to give him a blank look. She actually didn’t. At least she hadn’t until she dated Danny. He could talk for hours about space and she could listen for just as long. 

“I guess you could say you rubbed off on me.” she told him, laughing gently. And maybe he actually had. She honestly didn’t know anymore. Had she always drawn shooting stars and planets in her notebooks? Had she always spent hours looking up at the sky on lonely nights, dreaming of going to the moon?

“I did?” he raises an eyebrow. 

“I mean...yeah. Stargazing and ghost hunting are two of my favorite things now.”

“I’m not much of a ghost hunter.” he scoffs. The conversation suddenly felt a bit more sour. She almost recoiled with his sudden change in demeanor.

“But you are.” She continues, choosing to ignore the tension in the air. She’d be damned if he thought she was going to give up on him. “And I know your parents would be proud if you tell them.”

“I doubt they would be.” Danny said solemnly. “Even if I was. Which I’m not.” He tried to push past Valerie gently. She didn’t let him get too far by grabbing onto his shirt sleeve. He turned back around, tilting his head in confusion.

“No, really. I think they’d be proud of how you’re hunting ghosts.” She pauses, taking in a deep breath, as if it would help calm her nerves. “Just like me.”

“What?” Danny furrows his brows. “What does that mean, Val?”

Something inside of her almost broke when he called her ‘Val’. Her name sounded so sweet and soft when he said it. She’d been so harsh on herself lately that she’d forgotten what it was like to be loved, even just with little things like names.

“I know, Danny.” she said quietly, her voice breaking at every point it could possibly break. “I know about Phantom. About you being Phantom.”

Danny’s eyes went wide. “That’s not-I didn’t want to. I mean-I don’t… I can explain.”

Valerie wanted nothing more than to hug him and show him everything she felt. Everything that she’d worked through the past couple of days. But that would be taking the cheap way out. This was as much fault hers as it was Danny’s.

She decided to interrupt his train of thought. “I’m not angry. I don’t get why you did the things you did to me or if you even meant to,” When she took a pause Danny shook his head violently, almost on reflex. “But I forgive you.”

“And, well, we’re both hunters of our own, right?” she said, just a bit quieter, like even she wasn’t sure what she was saying. And maybe she didn’t. Danny’s shoulders hunched over. He looked as confused as she felt a few days ago. It wasn’t pity she felt, but a sense of belonging in his confusion.

“Yeah. I guess we are.” he agreed slowly.

“Then there’s no need for us to lie to each other, right?”

“...Yeah.”

She took another, somewhat unstable breath and held out her hand. She hadn’t noticed she was shaking until she held out that hand, which felt unsteady as it wavered in the dead, but warm air.

“Can we start over?” her body felt tense, even as she tried to force herself to relax.

Danny nodded hesitantly. He reached out his own hand and took hers gently. She squeezed it tightly, locking eyes and giving him her best smile. 

“Hi, I’m Valerie.” She let go of his hand and swished her long, curly hair back, even though it wasn’t in the way. “You’re pretty cute, so you can call me Val.” 

She smiled genuinely when Danny blushed. “It’s nice to meet you.”

**Author's Note:**

> Gift fic for Nerdneeniya on Tumblr! Hope you enjoy!
> 
> As always, all comments are welcome. Even just a <3 as an extra kudos!


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